LETTER OF THE DAY: Never overlook the role of our birdlife

READER COMMENT: I CAN certainly embrace the sentiment as well as the disappointment so eloquently expressed with regards to the future demise of birdlife pending the redevelopment at Horton Park (Daily, December 22).

Australia has so many exceptional birds and until such time as one recognises this, they seem to go unnoticed.

Not only do birds provide us with their sweet melodies, often incorporated into our music (such as Messiaen's Reveil des Oiseaux) they provide us with foods such as nectar and honey often used in alcoholic beverages, this being achieved through their pollinating skills.

Birds are also pleasing to the eye, with their amazing colours, intelligence, talkative and playful behaviours.

They provide us with many hours of entertainment, photo opportunities trying to capture them at their very best and in honing our listening skills trying to ascertain what bird and where.

Their colourful feathers adorn many a lady's hat and many an artist has spent hours doing justice to their subject.

Our birds also play a fundamental role to farmers by eradicating insects from their crops.

Australia has approximately 700 species of birds but this number is slowly diminishing, predominately through habitat loss, as Mr Riches inadvertently pointed out.